[Corpora-List] Corpora and EAP

[Daniel Lees Fryer]

[[Apologies for cross-postings]]

Dear Corpora-List members,

I'm currently designing a short introductory course in corpus
linguistics for non-linguists, in the context of an English for
academic purposes (EAP) module for PhD students and researchers in
Norway---something along the lines of Lee & Swales (2006). Basically,
the intention of the course is to introduce NNS researchers to some
relatively simple corpus analysis techniques, in order to allow them
to compile and explore their own discipline-specific corpora. The
course will be run as a supplement to ongoing EAP courses offered to
researchers from a variety of academic backgrounds, e.g., health
sciences, engineering, sociology.

I'm keen to learn how other corpus linguists and EAP practitioners
have used corpora in the classroom, and would very much appreciate
hearing your experiences---what worked, what didn't, what might work,
etc.---whether in the more "traditional" sense of concordancing in
large general corpora, or using other corpus analysis techniques
(e.g., keyword comparisons) in connection with smaller, more
specialized, particularly learner-compiled corpora.

Some of the issues I'm concerned about are as follows, and your
comments on any of these points (or indeed any I may have missed)
would be very much appreciated:

- identifying learners' needs
- the extent to which corpus analysis and EAP can/should address these
needs, particularly the perceived need for improved knowledge of
discipline-specific terms/phrases
- the level of interest/technical competency necessary for exploring
language through such a corpus linguistics approach
- designing and implementing a course in light of these needs and interests
- measuring potential learning outcomes
- evaluating the quality, size, and relevance of learner-compiled corpora
- comparing large general corpora (which ones---preferably freely
available?) with smaller specialized corpora


Thanks in advance

Best wishes,

Daniel Fryer

References:
Lee, D. & Swales, J. M. (2006). A corpus-based EAP course for NNS
doctoral students: moving from available specialized corpora to
self-compiled corpora. English for Specific Purposes, 25, 56–75.

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